CEO 81-39 -- June 18, 1981

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

MEMBER OF CITY PLANNING COMMISSION SERVING AS OFFICER OF LOCAL POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

To: (Name withheld at the person's request.)

SUMMARY:

No prohibited conflict of interest exists where a member of a city planning commission also is an officer in a local political organization which is a nonprofit private association formed to study and to make recommendations concerning state and local taxation and local government. Under the circumstances presented, it does not appear that the organization would be doing business with, or subject to the regulation of, the planning commission or the city. Nor would service as an officer of the organization create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict of interest or impede the full and faithful discharge of the duties of a planning commissioner, as the personal views and philosophy of a public officer and the private organization with which he is associated are irrelevant to the question of whether a conflict of interest is prohibited by Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes. CEO 80-82 and CEO 78-92 are referenced.

QUESTION:

Does a prohibited conflict of interest exist where a member of a city planning commission also is an officer in a local political organization?

Your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that the subject members of the City of Venice Planning Commission also are officers in a local political organization, a nonprofit private association formed to study and make recommendations concerning state and local taxation and local government. In a telephone conversation with our staff, you advised that this organization does not regularly take a position on matters coming before the Planning Commission and that, under past precedents, the association would not have standing to appeal a decision of the Planning Commission to the City Council for review.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides in relevant part:

CONFLICTING EMPLOYMENT OR CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP. -- No public officer or employee of an agency shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he is an officer or employee . . . ; nor shall an officer or employee of an agency have or hold any employment or contractual relationship that will create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between his private interests and the performance of his public duties or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties. [Section 112.313(7)(a), Florida Statutes (1979).]

Under the circumstances you have presented, it does not appear that the association is doing business with, or is subject to the regulation of, the Planning Commission or the City. Therefore, the first part of Section 112.313(7)(a) would not prohibit the subject Planning Commission members from serving as officers of the association.

Nor are we of the opinion that service as an officer of such an organization would create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between the Planning Commission members' private interests and the performance of their public duties or would impede the full and faithful discharge of their public duties. In CEO 80-82, a copy of which is enclosed, we advised that the Code of Ethics would not prohibit a city council member from serving as chairman of a local political committee of continuous existence. Similarly, in CEO 78-92, a copy of which is enclosed, we advised that no prohibited conflict of interest existed where a county water management advisory board member was employed by a nonprofit, environmental organization to perform research and serve as technical advisor to its board of directors. In that opinion, we advised that Section 112.313(7)(a) requires that a prohibited conflict of interest be based upon certain conflicting employment or contractual relationships. Therefore, the personal views and philosophy of a public officer and the private organization with which he is associated become irrelevant to the question of whether a conflict of interest is prohibited.

Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest is created where a member of a City Planning Commission also is an officer in a local political organization.